WIth each round in the NCAA tourney, it seems likes schools are firing coaches after they get beat..ie: Tubby Smith for one. Then you see a team, who I feel under achieved, but loses their coach to a higher profile program. Case in point: Steve Alford being named the new coach at UCLA. Have been a fan of Alford since his playing days at Indiana, but this hire puzzles me. UCLA lets go a coach(Howland) who has taken the team to 3 straight final 4's and hires a coach who was upset in the tourney by Harvard??? http://www.cbssports...es-steve-alford

I like Steve Alford. He has been very successful at mid-majors, but his one previous stint at the BCS level (Iowa) was not a positive. Why does UCLA think he will do better this time?

Too many guys who are the king of their domain at the mid-major level don't make it when they move up to compete with the big boys. The problem is that they often go to a program that has never been in the upper tier of their conference, and the new guy can't get them over the top. I have admired Shaka Smart's resistance to be lured away from VCU in this regard.